Intelligent management of safety and access control issues is becoming increasingly important for all types of public and private facilities. Accordingly, an increasing number of facility appliances such as barriers (doors, windows, etc.), elevators, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, power generation systems, alarms, fire dampers, and lighting systems are being equipped with sophisticated recognition and key systems. Another factor behind the increasing complexity of facility appliances is growing integration of entrances and exits with diverse building and management systems. Examples range from central fire alarm/emergency systems to time and attendance terminals and networked security devices that provide data to a common building monitoring database. In short, there is a growing recognition in the facility management industry of the escalating convergence between mechanical products, electronic components and software/information technology (IT) capabilities.
Automatic door systems provide one example of a facility appliances in need of a more intelligent, integrated management system. Current automatic door systems have numerous and significant deficiencies. For example, current systems do not accurately ensure protection of pedestrians when one or more of the door's components are disengaged, and even if the automatic door system does provide such protection, the system likely will not automatically reset the door and re-engage the components. Further, if a current automatic door system has disengaged components, most cannot communicate with the user/pedestrian and/or facility maintenance staff, and even if such doors have a communicating system, they do not have diagnostic logging which allows quick and efficient identification of the problem component(s).
Currently available automatic door systems contain problems with sensors including inappropriate reading of sensors, incorrect locked out time periods of sensor signals, and difficulty in interpreting interrelated sensor signals. For instance, if eight sensors are connected for one purpose, current systems cannot determine which of the eight sensors have triggered a specific occurrence.
Importantly, current automatic door systems lack a central decision making structure which is capable of prioritizing the system outputs in conjunction with global alarms or time periods. For example, if a current automatic door enters into night/secure mode while the door is open, the door sensor may or may not respond to sensor input. Current automatic doors also possess insufficient motor and mechanical overload, which translate into pedestrian injury.
Additionally, current automatic door systems provide no provision for maintenance key/mode. Accordingly, many sensors need to be power cycled in order to recalibrate. Another salient shortcoming of current automatic door systems is their inability to differentiate between parallel pedestrian traffic (people walking past an automatic door) vs. perpendicular pedestrian traffic (pedestrians walking to the door with the intent to go through the door). This results in unnecessary power usage and door component wear.
Currently available automatic door systems lack the ability to communicate to users and facility staff what mode the door is in. This results in pedestrian/staff confusion, increased abuse/damage to the door, as well as increase potential for pedestrian injury. Additionally, current automatic door systems do not have calendar integration for schematic calendar events, and thus lack a central integration system to coincide with Life Safety Code or other accreditation requirements. Current automatic door systems also lack localized fuse, circuit breaker, and surge protection.
Current systems also lack administrative ability. Many are unable to correctly interpret activation signals and wall paddle devices. Most current systems will continue to cycle if wall paddle is depressed and not reset at the initial depression of the wall device. Current systems are not focused on the total picture of environment care in regards to reentry, egress, smoke/fire compartmentalization and patient/employee safety care including infant abduction, elder/wander protection and visitor/guest control. Additionally, most current systems cannot override specific door components, and lack diagnostic ability, logging/journaling, and a temporary ability to override for commissioning (set up) or maintaining door systems. Current systems also do not allow scenario based modeling and the ability to test with true-to-life scenarios. Current systems additionally lack the ability to easily modify time and/or integrated settings, e.g., time required to ensure the electrical locking system is unlatched prior to opening of door. Current systems do not provide visual and audio communicators to alert pedestrians in an event of a fire or other emergency. Finally, current systems cannot communicate which component has a problem because there is no logging feature. This results in significant time and energy being wasted in determining the specific problem.
Numerous door control products currently exist which offer door control relays and software solutions that allow networked integration of time and attendance and security system data from terminals installed at entrance/exit door locations. However, all of these products lack sophisticated integration, diagnostics and configurable logic capability. Other existing building automation systems provide functionality ranging from central control and monitoring to remote troubleshooting by the manufacturer's support staff. TORMAX UNINET™ is one such example. However, these systems are limited to networking doors to central terminals for data collection and execution of functions that are derivative from, or based on, typical functions of automatic door remote control units.
Other existing barrier management related provide programmable PC-based I/O controllers. However, although such products offer programmable control functionality, they lack provisions for hardware components, asset monitoring and diagnostics/event logging or journaling. Further, such products do not include any rules-based software or built-in logic capabilities.
Current building management systems also lack features critical in emergency management, including fireground management. First responders on the scene of an emergency such as a fire must quickly assess the most critical fireground factors in deciding how most effectively to deploy fire fighters, attack the fire, rescue victims and preserve property. Efforts must continue throughout the operation to update and improve upon initial information relating to these factors. Fireground factor information comes from three broad sources: visual, reconnaissance and preplanning. Currently, reconnaissance typically involves sending someone into the structure to report on conditions as they are encountered.
In its NCSTAR 1: Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster: Final Report of the National Construction Safety Team on the Collapses of the World Trade Center Tower, NIST recommended (recommendations 13, 14 and 23): (1) That fire alarm and communications systems in buildings be developed to provide continuous, reliable, and accurate information on the status of life safety conditions at a level of detail sufficient to manage the evacuation process in building fire emergencies; (2) That control panels at fire/emergency command stations in buildings be adapted to accept and interpret a larger quantity of more reliable information from the active fire protection systems that provide tactical decision aids to fire-ground commanders; and (3) The establishment and implementation of detailed procedures and methods for gathering, processing, and delivering critical information through integration of relevant voice, video, graphical, and written data to enhance the situational awareness of all emergency responders. The systems and methods currently used by fire fighters fail meet one or more of the NIST's recommendations.
Currently, fire fighters commonly wear Personal Alarm Safety Systems (PASS) warning devices which are audible warning devices designed to activate if a fire fighter remains motionless for a significant period of time. Existing PASS systems have many problems, however. First, PASS housing is typically constructed of materials which fail at relatively low temperatures. Current PASS devices fail after five minutes at 500° F. Accordingly, the system is unable to withstand temperatures even half of flash-over temperatures. Additionally, current PASS systems monitor only movement and do not monitor the vital signs of the fire fighter. Since physiological stress is the primary cause of fire fighter death in a fire situation, the ability to monitor an individual fire fighter's vital signs is imperative. Also, existing PASS systems do not have a heads-up display interface, which conveys information without distracting the fire fighter from his primary duty by displaying information clearly within the line of sight of the fire fighter. Current PASS systems send a signal only to a command center central display, and are also not capable of communicating directly with an adjacent fire fighter or members of the fire response team. Accordingly, because the communication of an emergency must pass first through command and then back to the crew on the scene, valuable time which could be better used to rescue the fire fighter in trouble may be wasted in relaying communications from command to crew. Current PASS systems also only monitor the temperature from a single point on a scale of zero to 350° F., thus neglecting to monitor the upper and lower extremities and the torso for hot spots.
The present invention overcomes the above-described deficiencies by providing an intelligent, integrated facility and fireground management system which is efficient, assures first responder, pedestrian and barrier safety, and precise performance in extreme emergency situations, regulatory compliance, easy and flexible integration with building systems and add-on components, as well as advanced internal component monitoring and event logging. In general the novel benefits of the present invention include: a Universal Facility Controller, designed to control any type of appliance, barrier or barrier system; increased safety to users because appliance malfunctions are minimized; built-in diagnostics which creates offsite appliance monitoring capability; remote troubleshooting enabling a clearer understanding and identification of potential appliance problems, and more efficient service and maintenance; standardized computer controls; software providing for real time monitoring and continuous validation of the facility system; and programmable appliance functions for added safety and security.
Additionally, the system of the present invention provides both real-time first responder situational awareness (RT-FS-SA), and real-time fireground situational awareness by utilizing thermally fortified passive and active sensor and monitoring devices capable of transmitting and receiving real-time data, in extreme temperature conditions, to support first responder decision making.